San Diego Hub

San Diego man Dwayne Wynn was walking around a residential area just after midnight when a car pulled up behind him and the three men inside got out. When one called out an anti-gay slur, Wynn turned and caught a baseball bat upside the head, shattering his eye socket. As the men continued to beat him, Wynn suffered three cracked ribs and fractured fingers and needed 18 stitches for cuts he received in the attack. Because the attack was so sudden and brutal, Wynn was unable to get a detailed description of his attackers or their vehicle. One detail he did get: he could hear his attackers high-fiveing each other as they walked away.

Marvel Comics writer responds to a DC Comics executive who claims the lack of gay weddings in books DC publishes is due to the fact that superheroes are not supposed to be happy: "It's just lazy storytelling."

Documentary film director Roger Ross Williams on the rise of anti-gay animosity in Uganda: "Everyone I've talked to in my film has said, 'You know, look America's lost.' As marriage equality has passed, America is lost to them, but they are winning the war in Uganda. And they believe that this war will be won by eradicating what they believe is sexual sin, and that means homosexuality. And that message gets translated very differently in an African context."

Boston mayoral candidate announces proposal to protect LGBT youth: "Martin J. Walsh released Friday what he called a comprehensive platform to protect gays and lesbians, including designated “safe spaces” for gay youths in schools."

Conservative political action committee. whose goal was essentially to notify voters San Diego mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio is gay, has been fined $7,500 violating campaign disclosure laws: "The group, called Conservatives for Gay Rights Supporting Carl DeMaio for Mayor 2012, did not provide the names of its principals or a valid street address, according to the city Ethics Commission, which announced the fine Friday. It also did not keep records explaining its expenditures, the commission said."

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner will resign after a six-week sexual harassment scandal in which more than a dozen women have said he made inappropriate advances toward them, NBC San Diego reports:

Filner, spotted leaving City Hall with packing boxes Wednesday night, will formally vacate the office following a closed session of City Council Friday according to several sources. Just before 7 p.m. Wednesday city officials announced a proposed solution in the scandal that has consumed the city of San Diego since it first broke July 10. In the last six weeks, more than a dozen women have come forward with tales of alleged sexual harassment and unwanted sexual advances.

Filner attended a mediation session with city officials on Monday after disappearing for three weeks.

Todd Gloria, the openly gay City Council President, will take over as acting mayor under the City Charter. There could be at least one primary special election within 60 to 90 days, according to NBC.

San Diego County Clerk Ernest Dronenburg on Friday withdrew his petition asking the California Supreme Court to halt same-sex marriages and consider whether the Supreme Court's Prop 8 ruling applies only to the plaintiffs involved in the case, the Union Tribune reports:

In a news release sent out Friday afternoon, Dronenburg said he canceled the petition because it covered the same ground as another petition filed earlier to the court.

The first petition was filed July 12 by Dennis Hollingsworth and others. Hollingsworth, a former state senator, has worked with ProtectMarriage.com in support of Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Dronenburg said he was withdrawing his petition, which he filed July 19, to speed up the legal process that he hopes will clarify the current legal standing of Prop. 8.

Both petitions asked the state Supreme Court to stop county clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The court has denied that request, but has not responded to other questions about the legality of same-sex marriages in California.

“Because I am dropping my action, the California Supreme Court can start tomorrow in making a decision in the lead case of Hollingsworth v. O’Connell and Brown,” Dronenburg wrote in his Friday announcement.

Even in relatively gay-friendly California, gay couples are still at risk for violent attacks based on their orientation. Rather than being accosted by strangers on the street, San Diego couple Zack and Shawn struck up a friendship with an older straight couple at Club Kensington, who congratulated the men on their marriage. Then, after inviting the couple over for dinner, things got violent:

But after 20 minutes at Shawn and Zach's home, Zach said the evening took a violent turn while he was talking to the woman's husband about sports.

When asked by the police what happened, the man claimed Zach tried to molest him, but when pressed for specifics he conveniently was "unable to remember details." ABC 10 News reports that the man and wife were planning to divorce and suspect that he may have been lashing out at the happily married couple.